How good art Thou whose goodness is Our parent, nurse, and guide: Whose streams do water Paradise And all the earth beside! Thine upper and Thy nether springs Make both Thy worlds to thrive: Under Thy warm and sheltering wings Thou keep’st two broods alive. Thy arm of might, most Mighty King, Both rocks and hearts doth break; My God, Thou canst do everything But what would shew Thee weak. Thou canst not cross Thyself, or be Less than Thyself, or poor; But whatsoever pleaseth Thee, That canst Thou do, and more. Who would not fear Thy searching eye, Witness to all that’s true? Dark hell and deep hypocrisy Lie plain before its view. Motions and thoughts, before they grow, Thy knowledge doth espy; What unborn ages are to do Is done before Thine eye. Thy wisdom which both makes and mends We ever much admire; Creation all our wit transcends, Redemption rises higher. Thy wisdom guides strayed sinners home, ’Twill make the dead world rise, And bring those prisoners to their doom, Its paths are mysteries. Shepherd’s poems were called ‘Penitential Cries,’ and were published with Mason’s Songs of Praise in 1693. His best-known hymn begins Alas, my God, that we should be Such strangers to each other! O that as friends we might agree, And walk, and talk together! Most of his hymns have vigour and freshness, but there is generally something which hinders them from becoming hymns of the first class. The following verses are taken from a hymn entitled, ‘Lamenting the Loss of First Love,’ and were probably known to Cowper— O that my soul was now as fair As it has sometimes been, Devoid of that distracting care Without, and guilt within. There was a time when I could tread No circle but of love; That joyous morning now is fled, How heavily I move! Unhappy soul, that thou should’st force Thy Saviour to depart, When He was pleasèd with so coarse A lodging in thy heart! How sweetly I enjoyed my God! With how divine a frame! I thought, on every plant I trod I read my Saviour’s name. O might those days return again, How welcome they should be! Shall my petition be in vain, Since grace is ever free? Lord of my soul, return, return, To chase away this night; Let not Thine anger ever burn; God once was my delight. Other hymn-writers of this period are almost or entirely unknown to modern hymnals. One or two names may, however, be mentioned. Matthew Henry wrote a number of ‘family hymns’; Benjamin Keach (1640-1704) not only wrote hymns by the hundred, but published a defence of congregational singing under the title—_The Breach repaired in God’s Worship_.